A grounded theory of counselor educators integrating social justice into their pedagogy

A grounded theory of counselor educators integrating social justice into their pedagogy can provide counselor educators knowledge of the experiences and processes of some counselor educators who are working to integrate social justice concepts into their pedagogy. Knowledge of the experiences and processes of counselor educators integrating social justice into their pedagogy has the potential to assist counselor educators in their own teaching of social justice concepts as well as enhance their understanding of some of the challenges they may face through the process.;A grounded theory of counselor educators integrating social justice into their pedagogy was developed over the course of two rounds of interviews, two member check interviews, a final focus group, and data analysis with four counselor educators self-selected from CACREP-accredited programs. The theory addressed participants' results of their experiences and processes of integrating social justice into their pedagogy.;Four primary experiences emerged in participants' descriptions of their integration of social justice into their pedagogy. These primary experiences informed the categories of increasing awareness, facilitating a paradigm shift, implementing curriculum, and navigating challenges. These categories further described the participants' unique experiences via their subcategories, properties, and dimensions. Both participants' collective and individual experiences were captured.;Participant processes were extracted during data analysis and shared processes were found among the categories, subcategories, properties, and dimensions When looking at the uniqueness that the participants described in their processes, however, different and varied processes emerged between the properties, and dimensions of the categories. Participant shared processes began with experiences of their increasing awareness of motivating factors that influenced their commitment to social justice into their pedagogy which also contributed to their facilitation of a paradigm shift for students, faculty, and the profession. The participants shared their process of implementing curriculum that attended to social justice constructs. Following were the participants' recognition of navigating the challenges that emerged as they committed to integrating social justice into their pedagogy. A more detailed look at the research methodologies and the results of the emerging grounded theory of counselor educators integrating social justice into their pedagogy follows.